Gabe Kapler joins Angelo Cataldi amid slump

The Phillies have lost five games in a row and six of their last seven, all but ending their hopes of postseason baseball. Unfortunately, for Gabe Kapler, he had a scheduled phone call with Angelo Cataldi on the 94WIP Morning Show for Thursday.

Cataldi asked Kapler if he got a sense that a slump like this was coming.

"I understood that all teams go through stretches of struggle and it's been a long pronounced struggle," Kapler said. "We'll fight, scratch, and claw until we get to the finish line."

The Phillies have all of the sudden fell to 7.5 games behind the Braves in the NL East with just 17 to play. While seven still remain against Atlanta, the Phils are going to need a miracle.

"If saying that we will continue to work, continue to prepare to improve our game is optimism, then that's what I have to continue to do," Kapler said when asked about his continued optimism. "I don't think that saying that everything is going wrong, I don't think that throwing my hands up and having our club do anything but fight, is what will help us turn things around."